The Patricia Thompson Gallery is pleased to be hosting this exhibition of thirteen works by Julie Miller Kanapaux who graduated from Ringling College in 2000 as an Honors graduate earning a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art Painting with a Minor in Photography. Kanapaux was also a Trustee Scholar and recipient of the college's Presidential Sculpture Award. Her site-specific sculpture, For the Humans, is located in the median on Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. east of Old Bradenton Rd.

This selection of work in different media from 1997-2014 demonstrates the range of Kanapaux's experimentation and development as an artist. Her work is about space and perception. It is about our world and the great variety of stimuli we receive at every moment that influences how we ground ourselves in the everyday. Kanapaux's work helps us think about possibilities as well as our limitations. The limitations are related to physical space as well as intellectual capacity and our imagination. Each of Kanapaux's works launches us on our own journey in our mind where the only limitations are those we establish for ourselves.

In her Artist Statement, Kanapaux says her artwork "expresses the connecting thread, space, which separates and unifies. Through intuitive and organic forms, this body of work conveys a universal message that creates balance and order from macrocosmic chaos."

Kanapaux has worked as an Art Consultant for galleries in Hawaii, and photographed rare coins and artifacts as Digital Imaging Director for a Florida-based collectibles company. She has also created cutting edge branding and marketing campaigns as a Graphic Designer and Art Director at several advertising and publishing companies. In addition to her painting career, Julie works as a freelance designer and illustrator. She is a faculty member at Longboat Key Center for the Arts where she teaches painting and drawing. She lives in Sarasota, with her husband and son.

-Mark Ormond, Curator of Exhibitions

The Patricia Thompson Gallery is located in the Keating Center and features the work of Ringling College of Art + Design alumni.